i love tony’s version of our proposal story. enjoy!
it all began at lincoln & belden. lincoln & belden is the intersection in chicago where alissa & i first said that we loved each other. one night alissa and i were walking home from a bar (a little over-served). alissa stopped and grabbed my arm, paused for a moment and said, “i have something to tell you, and you don’t have to say anything back but…i love you.” without any hesitation, i replied “i love you too.” this was the second happiest day of my life and it all happened at lincoln & belden.
jump to a year and a half later. the date is march 21, 2014. i was staying with alissa for the weekend, as I had a thousand times before. it was friday and I told her that i had a date night planned, like i had planned a thousand times before. she came home from work and I wasn’t there. at her apartment i left a framed map of her neighborhood, with lincoln & belden circled. i wrote on the map “please meet me here.” i also left two dresses i bought for her with another note that said, “please pick one to wear tonight.”
when she got to lincoln & belden, I was there with ella (alissa’s dog who i love more than i’ll love our first child) in the exact spot where alissa had first told me she loved me a year and a half prior. i could tell alissa was nervous, but she was smiling more than i had ever seen her smile before. she was standing 4-5 feet away from me, scared to get any closer. i said a few lines and then asked if she would marry me. i grabbed the ring (it was attached to ella’s collar) and she said “yes!” this was the happiest day of my life and it happened at lincoln & belden.